Alexis Bourdon, edited by Philippe Folgado // Photo credit: GEORGES GOBET / AFP 20:17 pm, October 02, 2023

It is now mandatory, all farms with more than 250 ducks must go through the vaccination box against avian influenza. It began on Monday morning throughout the France. Nearly 67 million palmipeds are concerned, including 7 million in the Gers alone. Illustration in a farm in the region, in Labarthète.

In this farm of Labarthète, far from everything and only accessible by a winding road, veterinarians are hard at work. Shots of the avian flu vaccine are taken out of sight for health reasons. An operation that required a lot of preparation and precision.

"It's a relief for us"

"There are unvaccinated animals on one side and vaccinated animals on the other. They are put in basins which are then mounted on the vaccination table. The vaccinators then bite either between the two wings of the animal, or a little higher in the neck," explains Alice Marchet, one of the professionals in charge of administering the doses.

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In the afternoon alone, 10,000 animals received one dose of the vaccine on this farm. For Damien Dubosc, who works with his two brothers on the farm, the launch of this vaccination campaign is a real liberation: "We had been waiting for this moment for months. It's a relief for us, it's a tool that will allow us to work much better and not have all these crises anymore." But a single dose is not enough to protect the ducks, for them to be fully protected, these animals will have to receive a booster within 28 days.